adjective
commonplace
KO-muhn-plays
adjective
1
Ordinary; lacking anything unusual or noteworthy.
"Smartphones are so commonplace now that few people remember life without them."
noun
1
A remark or idea that has become dull and predictable from overuse; a cliché.
"His speech was full of commonplaces about hard work and dreams."
How to Use Commonplace
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishSomething so ordinary it barely registers — either an everyday occurrence or a tired, overused phrase.
Common pairings
a commonplace occurrence
commonplace remark
become commonplace
Word Forms
more commonplace comparative, commonplaced past tense, commonplaces plural, commonplaces singular, most commonplace superlative
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Smartphones are so _____ now that few people remember life without them.
Etymology
A translation of the Latin phrase locus communis, itself borrowed from the Ancient Greek koinos topos, both meaning roughly "a shared point" used in classical rhetoric.